Health

Community Education Day 2019 with the Lindner Center of HOPE is an afternoon workshop to enhancing awareness about the facts of mental illness and addiction. Keynote speaker, Kevin Hines, is an award-winning global speaker. bestselling author, documentary filmmaker, and suicide prevention and mental health advocate who is using his voice to reach millions with his story of an unlikely survival and strong will to live.

The afternoon includes three breakout sessions focused on how knowledge helps break down stigma and encourages individuals and families to get life-changing help.

Lindner Center of HOPE expert clinicians, Nicole Bosse, PsyD and Jennifer Wilcox, PsyD, will be presenting a discussion on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and its treatment at Manor House Wednesday, April 17 from 6-7:30 p.m. Participants will develop a basic understanding of what is and is not OCD. They will also learn about various types of OCD symptoms/presentation and treatment options available for the condition. Community Education Series events are free for all attendees. Registrations can be made by calling Pricila Gran at (513) 536-0318.

Clean Eating 101

This week we channel Jessie Whitesell, wellness coach and member of our Food Adventure Crew. She wrote our weekly article for Dayton Most Metro, and it really hits home with most of us.

So here we are…. WEEK 5 into the NEW YEAR, 2019.

Fresh fruit

Most of us make resolutions, some set goals, others have wishful thinking …..all about how to approach their health and
wellness with an edge.

This is going to be the year :

“I lose the weight.”

“I get fit.”

“I lose the belly tire.”

“I build muscle.”

“I eat clean.”

What does that even mean….CLEAN EATING?

HERE’S THE SKINNY ON CLEAN EATING:

Clean eating is preparing and eating food as close as nature intended it to be. Clean eating is a lifestyle choice. It is a decision to fuel your body in the way that nature designed it to optimally function. It is not deprivation, counting calories, measuring food, or adding up points. None of that nonsense that makes you rub up to the notion that food is good or bad or that connects guilt and shame to your “number game”. Clean eating is a practice that focuses on quality over quantity.

Can you really eat too many leafy greens?

Can you really eat too many leafy greens?

Next week marks WEEK 6 into the new calendar year. Current research in the health industry shows us that this
is a pivotal point on the calendar. People who have been working toward their health and fitness goals for the new year more than likely hit a roadblock at 6 weeks and quit.

More than likely they feel deprived, their willpower is spent, they are tired of measuring and weighing their carbs, and disconnected to tuning in to the process of how foods make them feel.

One ingredient foods

People are often so eager to create quick, radical change that they load on too many new changes and they can’t keep it all afloat. The overwhelm takes over, they are done with juggling it all and quit.

The idea behind clean eating is that it is a sustainable approach to be carried out for a lifetime. Letting go of boxed foods, frozen processed meats and entrees, pre-packed snacks, and creating fresh meals with real food.

Single ingredient foods even.

When you strip the foods down to their bare bones, your ingredients list gets shorter, if there even is one, as foods closest to their natural state won’t be filled with unpronounceable chemical preservatives.

Dorothy Lane Market’s Quality Produce

With the rise of convenience foods, cooking and preparing food at home has become a lost art and is rarely now a skill being passed down to the next generation.

If you have an interest in eating clean as the calendar pages continue to turn, may we suggest you take your next FOOD ADVENTURE along the perimeter of one of the best grocers in town. A local gem to the Dayton area is our own Dorothy Lane Market. Locally owned and operated since 1948, it began as a fruit stand. Today DLM encompasses three exquisite markets well-known for their fresh and healthy options, quick deli take-out, and specialty items. Be sure to take advantage of their pre-cut fruit and vegetables that offer a colossal variety of noodled, cubed, and sliced produce to help getting dinner on the table a bit easier.

Fresh Broccoli

Paying a few extra dollars, to keep your eating clean, is often worth every dime, so you stay on track with your
goals. Clean eating can be easily executed with simple planning and frequent trips to Dorothy Lane Market for the most beautiful and fresh produce in town.

Another great spot is Whole Foods Market on 725 near McEwen Rd. They have a lot to offer for clean eating and Whole 30 compliance. In fact there is a free seminar at Whole Foods, Saturday Morning February 9th at 10am at the store located at 1050 Miamisburg-Centerville Rd. Yours truly will be hosting the fun, fact filled Q and A. Please join us if you are curious. It is much bigger than food. See you there !!!

Food Adventures is a Dayton food blog with feature articles appearing each week here, exclusively on Dayton Most Metro. The Big Ragu, Jackie and Jessie will explore everything Dayton has to offer on the food scene. We have no rules, and your humble Food Adventurers will leave no plate unturned.

As part of Melanoma/Skin Cancer Detection and Prevention Month®, local Dayton-area dermatologists are offering free skin cancer screenings to raise awareness of melanoma and other types of skin cancers during the week of May 7-11.

You can feel it in the air – spring is almost here! This is the perfect time to shake off the winter “blahs” and bring more movement and meditation into our lives. On Saturday March 3, 2018 you can do just that with a 2 hour mixed session of Yoga, BollyX and Heartfulness meditation.

First, stretch your muscles and align your body with Yoga to prepare yourself for some lively movement to Bollywood music with a BollyX dance workout, and then cool down and refresh your spirit with Heartfulness Meditation! There is no set fee for this event. Donations are welcome, but not required. Any collected will go to support the Heartfulness Center in Dayton that offers free meditation and yoga classes to the community.

Dayton’s Mass Meditation and Yoga event at Courthouse Square is planned for September 21, 2017 from 5:30-7pm

For the third year in a row, the Heartfulness Institute of Dayton invites the entire community downtown to Courthouse Square on Thursday Septemeber 21st, 2017 for free, beginner-friendly yoga and meditation sessions. This lovely, community building event celebrates both the autumn equinox and the United Nation’s International Day of Peace.

The idea for this type of “mass meditation” came from Libby Ballengee, a local event organizer, who was inspired by a similar event that was planned for New York City’s Central Park. She dubbed the first event “Dayton Big Quiet” and sought out assistance from meditation experts. Ballengee explains, “It started as a “what if” conversation on Twitter, and the idea took off. It was recommended that I check out the Natural Path Meditation Center in Beavercreek for help, and I’m so glad I did! They were the perfect partner for this event.”

They were perfect for the event because teaching meditation to the community is their speciality. The Natural Path Meditation Center is also known as The Heartfulness Institute of Dayton, a non-profit educational organization. They offer free relaxation, meditation, and yoga classes, as a service to the community, so that everyone has the same tools to manage stress. They are not affiliated with any religions. The meditation trainers simply want to help spread inner peace to all, in an effort to achieve world peace. The Dayton organization has been recognized by the State of Ohio for its significant contributions to the region.

Most recently, the organization opened a center inside the Fairfield Commons Mall, which offers these same free classes. It’s an incredible way to disconnect from our busy, plugged-in world, and simply let our minds rest. You can try out this heart-based meditation style at the meditation center in Beavercreek, the mall location, or downtown at this unique first day of fall event!

HeartFest takes place at the beautiful Natural Path Meditation Center in Beavercreek, Ohio

Stressed? Seeking some peace of mind? Aren’t we all! It’s not as complicated as we tend to imagine. Self care, through movement and meditation, can dramatically improve our ability to cope with an increasingly stressful world.

Lots of folks are unaware that we have a wonderful resource nestled right here in the Miami Valley! The Natural Path Meditation Center, a non-denominational center that teaches a heart-based form of meditation called Heartfulness, is located in Beavercreek, conveniently close to both Fairfield and I-35 (directions below).

This weekend the Center is hosting their 2nd Annual HeartFest event. It’s a FREE & fun wellness festival, with workshops and vendors for all ages! Organizers hope that by offering tools for self care and inner peace, people will be able to live a more balanced life. How wonderful would that be for our community?

Curious about meditation, yoga, and wellness? Looking for ways to cope with stress? Seeking inner peace? Something to do with the kids? All of the above? Then this is sure to be a wonderful day you won’t want to miss!

I moved back to the Dayton area in April this year, and I admit the transition was not without trepidation. I grew up in Huber Heights, studied political science at Ohio State, and with the exception of a two-year stint back in the area during 2003-2005, I’ve lived most of my adult life in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Los Angeles. It’s safe to say I’m a bit of a big city guy.

Like others that I’ve met who’ve left and come back, I’m here to be closer to family. But since I’ve spent so much of my adult life away from Dayton, I’ve come back as a bit of an outsider. I’m discovering the city as one would any “new” place. This outsider’s status, coupled with a personal training career that I hadn’t even contemplated the last time I lived here, is inspiring in me a feeling I didn’t anticipate back in April.

Gratitude, and not simply because I’m closer to family.

Gratitude for the Dayton community itself. I’m not enjoying myself “despite being in Dayton,” but because of it.

You know by now my approach to fitness is that health and wellness are inextricably linked to the rest of our lives. I want my clients to learn how to pay attention to what matters most in their lives. I don’t want my clients (or readers) to obsess about fitness, but to see it as an avenue toward healthier, more vibrant, more connected living. This sort of life in Dayton includes things like exploring challenging independent movies, creative new art galleries, empowered understanding of our own sensuality, and venerable hometown institutions.

Blush Boudoir’s studio in a historic house downtown.

It’s easy, isn’t it, to ignore these things. We get so locked into our jobs, responsibilities, and commutes that we forget to see what is around us. I’ve been working with a remote client to build “mindful” lunches into her weekly routine. We came up with the concept together after realizing that she often works straight through lunch, picking at food here and there but never stopping to enjoy. She took her first mindful lunch last week, and you know what she found?

Quiet. Peace. Strategic thinking. When she gave herself permission to slow down, unplug, and pay attention to what she was eating, I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that she found inspiration.

Dayton’s pace is undeniably slower than New York’s, but with maturity, experience, and more than a few stumbles under my belt, I feel better equipped now to enjoy what my hometown has to offer. Now when I travel to New York (or wherever) I find myself bringing a bit more of Dayton with me.

If you’re gathering with family tomorrow, I hope you’ll take a few moments to contemplate the community we live in. I hope you’ll make it a point in the coming weeks to shop local, buy someone you love a surprise cupcake, or take an interesting yoga class. You want to be healthy? It’s not just about diet, exercise, and sleep–although all three of those things are important. You also need to feel inspired, connected, and stimulated. I’m proud to call myself a Daytonian, but from a health and wellness perspective I’m proud to live in a city in which I know my clients can become the best possible version of themselves.